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PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN IS BORN
Before entering Washington DC politics, Harry Truman served as a Judge in Jackson County, MO. Wait a minute...he was also the only president in the 1900s to not have a college degree, so how was Truman a Judge? Well, in Jackson County, Judge was an elected position, so you did not need to have a Law Degree to serve in the position!
When Truman became Vice President, he did not expect to assume the role of President. The major role of the VP is to keep track of the events going on in the Senate and Congress, so he knew very little about the secret details of WWII. Truman had a lot to learn about the conflict, as well as the secret development of the atomic bomb.
The end of WWII in Europe came on May 8, 1945, but the war continued on for months in Japan and other parts of Asia. It looked as if the Japanese were going to continue fighting for years to come. On August 6, 1945, President Truman authorized the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and a second bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced surrender on August 15th, which ended WWII. Truman was the first and only president to use the atomic bomb. Rhode Island is the only state that marks the Victory over Japan with an official state holiday in mid-August.
After WWII, Japan was prohibited from having its own international military defense force, and this still stands today. The United States Military is set up to protect and defend Japan from international conflicts.
During the Truman presidency, the United Nations was established, and the United States' Marshall Plan gave $13 billion dollars (worth over $266 billion today) to Europe to rebuild after the War. He created the foreign policy called the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which aimed at stopping the spread of Communism. The 33rd president also oversaw the start of the Korean War in 1950. Truman died on December 26, 1972 at the age of 88.
You can learn more about Harry Truman by visiting his Harry S Truman Museum and Library, and his home in Independence, MO, which is now a National Historic Site.
One more fun fact: The 'S' in Harry S Truman's name is not an initial for a middle name, it is just the letter S. Both of his grandfathers had a name that started with S, so his parents thought it was a good tribute to both men. Our 18th President Ulysses S Grant, also had an S that didn't stand for a name. He added the letter because he liked the way it sounded.
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